1 <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN"> 2 <html> 3 <head> 4 <!-- 5 6 Copyright (c) 2004, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 7 DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER. 8 9 This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it 10 under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as 11 published by the Free Software Foundation. Oracle designates this 12 particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided 13 by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code. 14 15 This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT 16 ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or 17 FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License 18 version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that 19 accompanied this code). 20 21 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version 22 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, 23 Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA. 24 25 Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA 26 or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any 27 questions. 28 --> 29 </head> 30 31 <body bgcolor="white"> 32 33 The Mirror API is used to model the semantic structure of a program. 34 It provides representations of the entities 35 declared in a program, such as classes, methods, and fields. 36 Constructs below the method level, such as 37 individual statements and expressions, are not represented. 38 39 <p> Also included is support for writing 40 {@linkplain com.sun.mirror.apt.AnnotationProcessor annotation processors} 41 to examine and process the annotations 42 of program elements. An annotation processor may, as an example, create 43 new source files and XML documents to be used in conjunction with the 44 original code. 45 46 47 <h4> Characteristics of the API </h4> 48 49 A program is represented at the language level, rather than at the 50 level of the virtual machine. Nested classes, for example, are 51 handled as first-class constructs, 52 rather than in the translated form understood by the VM. 53 Both source code and compiled code (class files) may be modeled 54 in this way. 55 56 <p> Programs are modeled in their static, or build-time, form. 57 This differs from the {@linkplain java.lang.reflect reflection} API, 58 which provides run-time information about classes and objects. 59 60 <p> The API does not provide direct support for generating new code. 61 62 63 <h4> Declarations and Types </h4> 64 65 The mirror API represents program constructs principally through the 66 {@link com.sun.mirror.declaration.Declaration} interface 67 and its hierarchy of subinterfaces in the package {@link 68 com.sun.mirror.declaration}. A <tt>Declaration</tt> represents a 69 program element such as a package, class, or method. 70 The interface hierarchy is depicted 71 <a href="com/sun/mirror/declaration/package-tree.html"> here</a>. 72 73 <p> Types are represented by the {@link com.sun.mirror.type.TypeMirror} 74 interface and its hierarchy of subinterfaces in the 75 package {@link com.sun.mirror.type}. Types include primitive types, 76 class and interface types, array types, type variables, and wildcards. 77 The interface hierarchy is depicted 78 <a href="com/sun/mirror/type/package-tree.html"> here</a>. 79 80 <p> The API makes a clear distinction between declarations and types. 81 This is most significant for generic types, where a single declaration 82 can define an infinite family of types. For example, the declaration of 83 <tt>java.util.Set</tt> defines the raw type <tt>java.util.Set</tt>, 84 the parameterized type {@code java.util.Set<String>}, 85 and much more. Only the declaration can be annotated, for example, 86 and only a type can appear in a method signature. 87 88 <p> A program being modeled may be incomplete, in that 89 it may depend on an unknown class or interface type. 90 This may be the result of a processing error such as a missing class file, 91 or perhaps the missing type is to be created by an annotation processor. 92 See {@link com.sun.mirror.type.DeclaredType} for information on 93 how such unknown types are handled. 94 95 96 <h4> Utilities and Tool Support </h4> 97 98 The {@link com.sun.mirror.util} package provides 99 utilities to assist in the processing of declarations and types. 100 Included is support for using the visitor design pattern when 101 operating on declaration and type objects. 102 103 <p> The {@link com.sun.mirror.apt} package supports the writing 104 of annotation processors. It provides the mechanism for them to 105 interact with an annotation processing tool. 106 107 108 @since 1.5 109 110 </body> 111 </html>